Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

The highly anticipated biopic of Freddy Mercury’s life has received lots of praise, best actor and editing specifically. I went into the film expecting a self indulgent Hollywood film that producers just threw money at, but it was actually really enjoyable and fun to watch, however I really don’t think it was outstandingly good.

While the film as a whole has issues, Rami Malek deserves that damn Oscar. He truly does embody Freddy really well. Even through prosetchic teeth he can deliver his lines in such a Freddy way and during some scenes he can evoke emotions beautifully. The rest of cast were all good, particular highlights include Mike Myers and Gwilym Lee.

The only other bit of praise I will give this movie is how well done the performances are, especially live aid at the end. They are energetic and well shot and a joy to watch. Marc Mattel, who did most of the singing for Freddy’s bits, sounds so similar it is mind blowing, seriously look him up on YouTube.

However every good thing needs criticism and to me the biggest flaws are the editing and pacing, which is odd because the editing won an Oscar. Unworthy praise aside, the editing is way to fast and generally disorientating if you’re paying attention even a little bit. The cafe scene with Aidan Gillian’s character is particularly horrendous.

The pacing has the same issue of being way too fast. You really need to have prier knowledge of Queen to make sense of some of it. It is somewhat understandable as they have to fit in about 20 years of one of the most influential rock stars life into 2 hours which would be hard, I just wish they tacked on an extra 10 minutes to show the band forming and getting know each other. In the film it’s just first performance, snap it’s a few years later and we’re all best friends.

I can’t help but compare Bohemian Rhapsody to a marvel film, which is high praise as I love marvel, because it is really enjoyable but has some issues that only critics and analysts would actual care about. The general mass probably will really like this film and I think Freddy would be proud of it,